The 2016 GMBC Practice Crit season is off to a good start! But first I would like to thank Sharon Sturm, Dorothy Pumo, Michael Hopwood, Scott Decker and John Witmer for volunteering, and Mark Hammond for sweeping! It was sunny and about 60F to begin, but a very strong wind cooled especially the volunteers very quickly to the bone. For the C race we had with 9 starters the largest field in a long time, in age ranging from 13 to 63. Together with the accompanying B and A racers for the first 10 minutes it was an impressive field and picture! The C group stayed mostly together for the race, until the pace picked up significantly in the last two laps, and Colin Dowey won the sprint. The B race was with 10 starters on the smallish side, and the strong wind kept things mostly together, until James Oakley broke free with a couple laps to go and held a small advantage to the line. The A race had an impressive field with 18 starters. Except for 5 of them they were in matching 1k2go kit, nice to look at but harder to track for the referees. Joshua Saxe did not wait around long to show his impressive form coming off his California training camp and soloed away for a few laps, before he was joined by Steve Francisco. After about 30 laps they had lapped the field and went right through them. It made for some interesting refereeing, since 3 other riders were behind them but before the field, and eventually also lapped the field, but the ensuing remix of little groups of riders made it challenging to keep track. The final sprint was won by Steve ahead of Josh. The winner of the B and the top two in the A race won $20 gift cards to Skirack, a continuing great supporter of the GMBC and it’s members! The next 2016 GMBC Practice Crit is scheduled for Tuesday June 7th. As always we are in need of volunteers, so if you could help for an hour or two, mark your calendars, and bring the family! 2016 Green Mountain Bicycle Club Practice Criterium Date: 5/17/2016 Colchester Watertower Hill, 60F, sunny, strong wind C-Race; 9 starters, 20 minutes 1. 186 Colin Dowey 2. 53 Noah Chabot 3. 54 John Witmer 4. 189 Cooper Strong 5. 69 Dee Barbic 6. 185 David Herrick 7. 187 Scott Conchiery 8. 184 Carson Cowhig 3. 188 Dakota Amblo B-Race; 10 starters, 30 minutes 1. 57 James Oakley 2. 58 Alain Boisgoli 3. 60 Dunbar Oehmig 4. 55 Tom Moody 5. 52 Marc Hammond 6. 178 Paxton Hyde 7. 59 Chad Philips 8. 56 David White 9. 54 John Witmer A-Race; 18 starters, 41 minutes 1. 132 Steve Francisco 2. 121 Joshua Saxe 3. 62 Bobby Bailey 4. 170 Gaelen Kilburn 5. 171 Jake Hollenbach 6. 56 Charles McCarthy -1lap